B2MeM Is Underway. Are You Playing?

B2MeM started on Sunday. For those who read my blog but aren't involved in the Tolkien Fan Fiction community, B2MeM is Back 2 Middle-earth Month and takes place every March. Each year's format is different, but they all involve a large number of us writing original stories or producing original artwork to meet themes or prompts. This year's event is turning out to be quite exciting.

This year's B2MeM features the Middle-earth Marketplace. 

This year we are holding a Middle-earth marketplace with stalls from various locations throughout Middle-earth and beyond. Each person participating begins with 15 farthings from which they can purchase a story prompt from a stall or leave a prompt that they hope might interest another writer to purchase and use as the basis for their tale. Each transaction costs 1 farthing. I purchased two prompts, initially, and left one, so my 15 tokens were down to 12 yesterday morning.

Some of the market stall banners are pictured above.
Aldarion's Sails and Rigging will have stories based in or regarding Numenor.
Denethor's Armory deals with Gondor and it's surrounding area.
Lonely Mountain Toy Emporium features stories of Dale, the Lonely Mountain and Dwarves
Nali's Puzzles and Devices allows for AU and crossover stories.

The stalls have been heavily shopped and many prompts have been added. Now stories are being written and posted. Reviews earn money, so each review is paid one farthing. I've reviewed six stories so far. Now I have 18 farthings to spend. Such riches!

Making and spending farthings while writing is a total win/win. Originally
the concept sounded a bit complex, but now that I'm involved in it, it's
so EASY. This year's B2MeM will be lots of fun! 

I started work on one story yesterday, and it's coming along well but still has quite a long way to go. I am also thinking about purchasing three other prompts which would bring my total of stories to five, but I want to make sure I don't get drowned by the work during a month that is very busy at the shop.

I have to be careful not to take on too many story plots. It's a busy
month at work and I don't want to drown at my keyboard. 

It was B2MeM that first got me involved with writing fan fiction. Before then, I had reviewed and done beta work and generally read a lot of other people's stories, but I hadn't started sitting at a keyboard and writing. B2MeM was what broke me out of the reading mold and pushed me into the writing mold. It was the year of the Passport, and I loved it. I started with the prompt from the second day and went back to write the first day later. I got stamps for each day and a complete passport, and I also got a lot of friends and my OFC Helyanwë from the stories I wrote that month. I have participated in each B2MeM since then and have always enjoyed it - some more than others.

My completed passport from B2MeM 2011 is still a prized possession. 

So I'm playing, I'm shopping, and I'm writing, and once again I'm having a wonderful time with B2MeM.